Harvick completes sweep of Michigan
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[August 10, 2020]
Second verse, same as the first
for Kevin Harvick. After driving to a dominating victory in
Saturday's first race of the weekend doubleheader at Michigan
International Speedway, Harvick staged a repeat performance on
Sunday.
The Stewart-Haas driver led a race best 90 of 156 laps in Sunday's
Consumer Energy 400 NASCAR Cup Series race to get the win.
"Awesome power under the hood this weekend," Harvick said, stating
the obvious.
The result gave Harvick a series-high six victories on the season
and was his fifth at Michigan, where he has now won four of the last
five races.
"It's been a long time since I raced back-to-back days let alone in
a Cup car," Harvick said. "Never accomplished that obviously. We're
hoping it goes the same way at Dover when we go there in a couple
weeks."
About the only difference in the two races was the closeness at the
end of the race. Over the final 10 laps, Denny Hamlin tracked
Harvick down and finished just 0.09 seconds back.
"Once we got to second I knew we had something for him," Hamlin
said. "But got stalled there. He was tight, I was tight. We were
better, that's for sure. He just had the track position and kind of
controlled the lane there.
"Obviously a very strong run," Hamlin said. "We just needed a little
bit more...just really hate giving up wins to the 4 (Harvick)."
Hamlin was going for his sixth win of the season.
Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch finished
third and fourth, respectively.
Finishing fifth was Joey Logano of Team Penske.
A victim of Harvick's dominance over the weekend was Busch, the
defending series champ who still has not won a race this season.
Busch, who battled Harvick for a win before finishing fifth on
Saturday, led laps again on Sunday but could not quite break
through.
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NASCAR Cup
Series driver Kevin Harvick (4) races down the front stretch during
the Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Busch, who has only won once at the 2-mile MIS oval, called his
weekend successful.
"At the end of the say, we slowed down on the long runs," Busch
said. "But that's about all we could get out of the day. The 4 was
the best car, the 2 (Keselowski) was the second best.
"Yesterday and today, the car drove great. Best driving car I've had
here at Michigan."
For a second straight day, Michigan native Brad Keselowski came up
short in a bid to get his first victory at his home track. On
Saturday, he finished second. On Sunday, things fell apart on Lap 96
when he lost control going for the lead. His car moved up into
leader, and Team Penske teammate, Ryan Blaney. Both cars hit the
wall and were knocked out of the race.
"I just lost it," Keselowski said. "My fault. I feel bad for my
teammate Ryan Blaney. He didn't deserve that. Lost the back a little
bit. He was there. I wiped him out and myself out."
Apology accepted.
"We had two fast cars, battling for the lead," Blaney said. "It's
unfortunate but it's not going to carry over. Things happen.
Mistakes happen."
There are now just four races left before the start of the
16-driver, 10-race playoffs.
--Field Level Media
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